Articulation, Intonation, Rhythm.

 

Articulation. 

Closely related to the subject of pronunciation is that of correct articulation. The prospective radio announcer does well to practice speech before a mirror, or to watch the lip, jaw, and tongue action of the experienced announcer or singer, and then obey the rules for a pure and distinct speech. If an individual has a definite speech defect, my advice to him is to prepare himself to go into the sales or writing staff of a station rather than to attempt to prepare for announcing or dramatic work. In many instances, however, the individual with a slight fault can by conscientious work not only overcome that fault, but build himself into a better speaker than one who is not forced to work for perfection. The criticism frequently given in auditions is that a voice is thin and nasal, that it has no depth. Such speakers are not originating their speech at the diaphragm. A listener can almost "see" the generation of the speech as he listens to the loud -speaker. The flexible lips, jaw, and tongue are to be used to form the sound, but it must float up from the diaphragm. When the sound arrives at the mouth, the speaker should use his articulating organs; otherwise the criticism will be that he is lip lazy, that he has a tight jaw, or that his articulation is blurred. If the throat feels tight, open the mouth as wide as possible without stretching and attempt to yawn. There is no better throat relaxation. Lack of clarity through a gutteral or mixed quality of speech is sometimes caused through overtenseness of the jaw muscles. Since every normal individual uses a clear strident tone when he is excited and shouting, evidently the essential element is mental. Create a mental picture of an exciting automobile wreck or of a football game. Get the vivid picture well in your mind. Then describe the incident as vividly as possible. Do not allow your excitement to decrease. Make it a short description at first and increase its length with repetition. If you feel that your excitement is decreasing, stop and start over. Certain of the vowels, such as those in "way," "cat," "it," and "my," are formed at the front of the mouth. The same vowels in other words and additional sounds are created at the middle of the tongue, for example, "above," "but," and "bird." The location of the formation of the letters can best be determined by "feeling" the sounds in the mouth.  

Rhythm and Intonation. 

There is rhythm in all well -constructed speech. The easiest way to be unintelligible in a language is to speak it in wrong rhythm. Rhythm, and rhythm alone, is often the determining factor in intelligibility.' What the English call the "American drawl" and what Americans call the "British clipping of syllables" are in reality differences of rhythm. Speech is an affair of rhythm and intonation, and these all have to do with sound. Our speech has a clear-cut system of long vowel sounds and short ones, and a very decided feature which we call the "accent," without knowing precisely what accent consists of. English speech is preeminently a speech of strong rhythm, long and short sounds, long and short pauses between sounds, clear-cut vowels, and obscure vowels. Just as there is a peculiar English rhythm, so there is, although we are not generally aware of it, a purely English speech melody. We are so used to it that we are usually oblivious of its existence and generally ignorant of its nature. But it is there, and we are wide awake indeed when we are suddenly presented with a speech melody that is unfamiliar. We sense it at once; there is probably no aspect of this speech business to which we are so sensitive as we are to this intonation factor. What we call "expression" in reading is really the finesse of putting intonations, accents, and rhythms onto the bare words so as to make them resemble speech. Rhythm requires thought, and, if the speaker thinks about what he is saying, his rhythm will be smooth. If he is reading, that material must have been written with thought units varying in style and length. Do not break thought units. Seek the most effective groupings of words by means of gestures or tapping.

Criticism and Analysis. 

The importance of a competent teacher to check on results and quality cannot be overestimated. No person is competent to correct his own vocal faults. Even great singers take lessons occasionally. The student should be encouraged to work by himself but this should never be allowed to take the place of competent guidance. The only way in which the radio speaker can get a convincing criticism of his voice is for him to have an experienced teacher of speech analyze a recording of his speech. The disc record permits him to make a short cutting, listen to it, pick out the faults, and attempt to correct them in the next short cutting. A student is inclined to be skeptical of criticisms by teachers of faults which are not obvious to him, but the recorded talk will accurately deliver to his ear matters of articulation, enunciation, pronunciation, and rhythm. The tone quality may not be perfect but variation in tone will also be obvious. Such recordings may be taken home and used for constant analysis. Students of speech have found the magnetic tape recorder helpful, inspiring, and enjoyable. With such a device the student delivers to the microphone a 1 -minute announcement or speech which is preserved as local variations in the magnetization of a steel tape. By turning a switch the recorded speech is immediately played back. At any word the voice may be silenced for analysis and then the speech resumed as many times as desired. Turning another switch erases the recording and prepares the tape for a new recording. This method is admirably suited to practice techniques, but the recording is not kept to evidence improvement. A combination of recording equipment and motion pictures is used in many speech classes to show to the student the use of lips, jaw, and facial expression in perfecting enunciation and intonation. There is always a problem in timing, but the results, even if imperfect, are worth the experi- mental efforts of the teacher and student.